Olympic medalist Erica Wiebe comments on her WWE tryout

“Two days later, I walked into the WWE Performance Center in Orlando and laced up my shoes for my first foray in professional wrestling. To be honest, I was pretty cocky as I climbed between the ropes. I had dedicated the past 10 years of my life to mastering the craft of freestyle wrestling – how hard could a little fake wrestling be? We started off with some basic tumbling (skills I do every day at wrestling practice) and I felt immediately comfortable. We quickly moved on to the fundamentals of professional wrestling. I was honored to be working with former wrestler Norman Smiley and a number of the resident wrestlers who have moved to Orlando from all over the world to pursue their WWE dreams. As we worked through various basic skills, I quickly realized that every instinct I had as a freestyle wrestler was counter to what was needed in this ring. As a freestyle wrestler, you need to be low, heavy with your hands, pummeling your opponent, wearing them down, and eventually twisting and torquing their body to your will (at least, that’s my usual modus operandi). In the world of professional wrestling (despite how it may appear on TV) every movement is carefully executed, as you work in sync with your partner’s movements. The intensity comes through your own actions rather than the actions you impose on others.”

source: cbc.ca